Arrangement for collecting and emitting light via defined surface areas

ABSTRACT

Arrangement for collecting and emitting light via defined surface areas (25) in order to create a slide. The arrangement consists of a number of transparent plate elements, collector plates (12-15), which are designed to receive incident light at one or more of their surfaces, collector surfaces (17-22), and to emit the received light at one or more of their other surfaces, emission surfaces (28). The collector plates consist of fluorescent material designed to convert received ultraviolet light to visible light. The arrangement comprises a plate (3) which forms a carrier for the slide which is to be presented. The plate elements (12-15) are set transverse to the carrier plate with their light-emitting surfaces (28) bearing against the rear side (29) of the carrier plate. The light-emitting surfaces (28) are situated in strip-shaped intermediate spaces between opaque parts (24) of the carrier plate.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an arrangement for collecting andemitting light via defined surface areas in order to create a slide andcomprising a number of transparent plate elements, collector plates,which are designed to receive incident light at one or more of theirsurfaces, collector surfaces, and to emit the received light at one ormore of their other surfaces, emission surfaces, in which respect thecollector plates consist of fluorescent material designed to convertreceived ultraviolet light to visible light.

PRIOR ART

It is previously known to use transparent plastic plates fortransmission of light, for example in connection with advertisementboards, or other information boards, in which respect a particularlygood effect is achieved by using fluorescent Plexiglas, which emitscollected ultraviolet light in the form of visible light.

TECHNICAL PROBLEM

Certain types of information arrangements are often placed in such aposition that it is impossible to provide for power supply by means ofconnection to the existing electricity network. Examples of such a typeof information arrangement are lights, which are of the type describedin Swedish Patent Application No. 8603071-5, where strip-shaped lightsymbols appear.

The aim of the present invention is to provide an arrangement of thetype described above, which permits a very great light exchange by usingboth sunlight and artificial light as the light source.

INVENTION

The said aim is achieved by means of an arrangement according to theinvention, which is characterized in that the arrangement includes aplate, which forms a carrier for the slide which is to be presented, andin that the said plate elements are set transverse to the said carrierplate with their light-emitting surfaces bearing against the rear sideof the carrier plate, and in that the said light-emitting surfaces aresituated in strip-shaped intermediate spaces between opaque parts of thecarrier plate.

DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

The invention will be described in greater detail below on the basis ofan exemplary embodiment and with reference to the attached drawings, inwhich

FIG. 1 shows schematically a partially broken side view of thearrangement according to the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a front view of the arrangement, while

FIG. 3 shows, on a greatly enlarged scale, a broken part of a verticalsection through the arrangement according to the invention along theline III--III in FIG. 1.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The arrangement shown by way of example in the drawings consists of alight, which uses the moire technique in order to indicate to theviewer, by means of a pattern, where the former is situated relative toa plane of symmetry. The position of the viewer is indicated by means ofa pattern varying in relation to the position, which is described ingreater detail in, for example, the abovementioned Swedish PatentApplication No. 8603071-5. In order to form this pattern, a light source1 is required and at least two screen units set at an angle relative toeach other, a front screen unit 2 and a rear screen unit 3. In theexample shown, the front screen unit is divided up into two screen parts4, 5 which are set at an angle to each other, as shown in FIG. 1. Thescreen units 3, 4, 5 are supported by a frame 6 consisting of, forexample, two side pieces 7, 8 and a crosspiece 9 and a lower supportpiece 10, the frame exposing maximally the information surface 11 formedby the screen units, on which surface 11 information symbols appear.

According to the invention a number of light-collector plates 12, 13,14, 15 are connected to the rear screen element 3 and extend over theentire height of the screen unit 3 and advantageously have differentwidths, a central collector plate 12 having the greatest width, and thewidth of the other plates decreasing successively in the directiontowards the sides. The collector plates 12-15 have downward-directed endsurfaces 16 which form collector surfaces for picking up incident lighttogether with the mutually parallel side surfaces 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22of the collector plates, see FIG. 3. The rear screen unit 3 is alsodesigned as a collector plate and is, like the other collector plates12-15, of a special type of transparent plastic, advantageouslyfluorescent transparent acrylic plastic, such as Plexiglas from Rohm orLISA from Bayer.

As emerges best from FIG. 3, the rear end surfaces 23 of the collectorplates are sealed by means of sealing with, for example, an opaque foil,advantageously an inward-reflecting foil, so that light is nottransmitted in an undesired direction. The foil can be white forexample. The collector plates are advantageously attached firmly to therear screen plate, for example by means of gluing with acrylic adhesive,so that a maximal light transmission is achieved over to and through therear screen plate 3. The latter has a number of opaque strips 24,positioned with intermediate spaces so that transparent, strip-shapedspaces 25 are formed. The opaque strips 24 consist advantageously of afirst layer 26 with good reflecting power, for example a white striplayer, aluminized layer or the like, covered with a dark, preferablyblack strip layer 27 facing towards the front screen unit. The collectorplates 12-15 are positioned in such a way that their front end surfaces28, which are glued to the rear screen plate 3, are situated in linewith at least some of the strip-shaped spaces 25 between the opaquestrips 24. In the example shown, the collector plates are positioned inline with every second transparent space 25, but they can in principlebe positioned in line with each intermediate space or every thirdintermediate space etc. In order to achieve a maximal light exchange,the collector plates should not be positioned too close to each other,but instead it must be possible for light to be admitted to thecollector surfaces 17-22 between the plates. If it is possible to selectcollector plates with the same thickness as the width of the transparentintermediate spaces, a high-quality distinct slide will be obtained, butin a case, as shown in FIG. 3, where the collector plates have a smallerthickness than the width of the transparent intermediate spaces, arelatively uniformly illuminated image can also be obtained by treatingthat surface 29 of the rear screen plate 3 facing rearwards towards thecollector plates, for example by etching on one side or on both sides ofeach collector plate over a treated surface 30 such that the treatedsurface, together with the thickness of the collector plate, correspondsto the width of the respective transparent intermediate space. Thetreatment is of such a type that a "damage" or disturbance is created inthe rear screen plate, in which respect light emission can take place.

As shown in the example, further surfaces 31 can be treated in order toproduce the said disturbance in the smooth rear side of the screenplate, such as elongate strips in line with the intermediate spaces,where there are no collector plates. In this way an increased lightemission is obtained through the rear screen plate in line with thetransparent intermediate spaces.

The front screen element 2 in the example shown is not designed as ahomogeneous plate, but is made up of a grid of separate, opaque strips32 of, for example, light metal, which are thus self-supporting andfree-standing and have between them intermediate spaces 33 such that theopaque strips 32 are arranged in a predetermined distributionrelationship relative to the distribution relationship of the opaquestrips 24 in the rear screen on the rear screen plate 3. By means of asuitably adapted distribution relationship, the moire pattern mentionedabove and known per se is achieved, which indicates the position of aviewer placed at a great distance relative to a plane of symmetry, forexample a plane at right angles to the plane of the paper in FIG. 3along the line 34.

As emerges best from FIG. 1, the arrangement is covered at leastpartially by a casing 35 which, in the example shown, consists of twogable pieces 36, 37 and a cross-piece 38. The casing extends rearwardsto the rear screen plate 3 and projects in such a way that lightincident from the front is blocked out maximally, in order to give asclearly readable a slide as possible. In the example shown, thecollector plates 12-15 are not screened off by the casing, but are openfrom all directions for receiving incident sunlight. Furthermore, thelight source 1 in the example shown consists of a number of (in theexample shown 4) elongate fluorescent tubes 39 which are suitablysupported on a bracket (not shown) on the frame 6 and extend in atransverse direction under the lower end surfaces 16 of the collectorplates. With the construction described above, a particularly high levelof light exchange is achieved both as regards the use of light from thesun and from the artificial light source in the form of fluorescenttubes. The arrangement is self-regulating insofar as strong sunlight,which requires a strong slide for maximal contrast, gives the desiredeffect with a strong slide by means of the fact that greater lightincidence gives greater light emission in the defined surface areaswhich, in the example shown, consist of the strip-shaped intermediatespaces 25 between the opaque strips 24. The light incidence thus takesplace, as regards sunlight, essentially incident on the principalsurfaces of the collector plates, that is to say the side surfaces 19,22 and also incident on the rear side of the screen plate 3, in whichrespect the latter can advantageously be sealed at its edge surfaces inconformity with the rear edge surfaces 23 of the other collector plates.The light emission takes place at the non-sealed edge surfaces of thecollector plates, that is to say the edge surfaces 28, which arepositioned in line with at least some of the strip-shaped intermediatespaces 25. A light emission also takes place at the damaged surfaces 30,31, which are arranged in the screen plate 3. The artificial lightsupplements or replaces normal light, when the latter does not attain asufficient light intensity, which can be detected by means of aphotocell or be controlled quite simply by a timer, which lights thefluorescent tubes 39 before darkness sets in. The collector plates arein this respect irradiated again at their main surfaces 19-22, but alsoat their lower end surfaces 16 which serve as collector surfaces. Aviewer to the front of the arrangement according to the invention thussees all day round a slide on the information board 11 which, in theexample shown, appears as a strip-shaped pattern, which is angled off toan arrow-shaped pattern when the viewer deviates from the line ofsymmetry 34. This so-called moire pattern will not be described indetail here, since it belongs to the prior art.

The invention is not limited to the exemplary embodiment described aboveand shown in the drawings, but can be varied within the scope of thefollowing patent claims. For example, it is not necessary per se for thearrangement according to the invention to be used to produce a moirepattern, but instead an information pattern of another type can becreated. For example, the collector plates do not per se have to beplane, but instead can be curved so as to form defined surface areas attheir edge surfaces so that particular symbols are created. Thearrangement can be used in many types of installations where access toconventional energy sources is limited; for example, the arrangement canalso be used on mobile units. It is also conceivable for collectorplates to be arranged for each strip-shaped intermediate space 25. Thefront screen unit can likewise be constructed as a plate with opaquestrip-shaped patterns applied.

I claim:
 1. Arrangement for collecting and emitting light via definedsurface areas (25) in order to create a slide and comprising a number oftransparent plate elements, collector plates (12-15), which are designedto receive incident light at one or more of their surfaces, collectorsurfaces (17-22), and to emit the received light at one or more of theirother surfaces, emission surfaces (28), in which respect the collectorplates consist of fluorescent material designed to convert receivedultraviolet light to visible light, characterized in that thearrangement comprises a plate (3) which forms a carrier for the slidewhich is to be presented, and in that the said plate elements (12-15)are set transverse to the said carrier plate with their light-emittingsurfaces (28) bearing against the rear side (29) of the carrier plate,and in that the said light-emitting surfaces (28) are situated instrip-shaped intermediate spaces between opaque parts (24) of thecarrier plate.
 2. Arrangement according to patent claim 1, characterizedin that the carrier plate (3) also consists of a collector plate made ofa fluorescent material.
 3. Arrangement according to patent claim 1,characterized in that the collector plates (12-15) have different widthsrelative to each other, with the width decreasing from the centralcollector plate or plates towards the two sides of the arrangement. 4.Arrangement according to patent claim 1, characterized in that anartificial light source (11) is situated at the collector plates(12-15).
 5. Arrangement according to patent claim 1, in which the saidcarrier plate (3) forms a line screen of opaque strips and strip-shapedintermediate spaces, which screen is designed to cooperate with anotherfront-lying line screen of opaque strips and strip-shaped intermediatespaces in order to form a moire pattern, characterized in that thelight-emitting surfaces (28) of the collector plates (11-15) aresituated in line with at least some of the strip-shaped intermediatespaces (25) in the carrier plate (3).
 6. Arrangement according to patentclaim 5, characterized in that the rear edge surfaces (5) of thecollector plates (12-15) facing away from the carrier plate (3) aresealed.